Morocco: All Brothers with Great Respect, Stresses Pope

“All brothers with very great respect, is what the Pope retains from his two recent trips to Muslim lands — the United Arab Emirates and Morocco. Returning from Rabat on March 31, 2019, during his in-flight press conference, the Holy Father castigated fundamentalism in all its forms. “Those that build walls will end up prisoners of the walls they build,” he said.

Answering a journalist’s question on the fruits of this visit, the Holy Father spoke of “flowers.” “The fruits will arrive later but the flowers are promising.” In the Arab Emirates (in February) and in Morocco, “I talked about what touches my heart: peace, unity, fraternity,” he stressed.

With Muslim men and women we sealed this fraternity in a document at Abu Dhabi and, here in Morocco, we all saw freedom, hospitality — all brother with great respect,” he continued.

Pope Francis exhorted “not to abandon” this path despite the difficulties, especially by “intransigent groups.” Whatever the religion, there is always a fundamentalist group, which lives with bitter memories of past fights, and seeks war and sows fear,” he deplored.

And he warned: “those that build walls will end up being prisoners of the walls they build; those that build bridges will go forward,” he concluded.